There was a little difficulty in launching the boat on Chicot this morning due to the low water. The lake is being pulled down to let people work on their docks and for vegetation to grow on the shore so the small fish will have greater survival next spring when the water comes back up. When I finally started fishing, not much was going on except the wind was blowing creating a chop that wiped out any hopes of a topwater bite. I went straight to Jackson’s spot and caught nothing. At the second spot I saw some minnows flinching and threw a shaky head to the spot. Caught 4 there but they quickly quit. I then left the shallow side and tried the deep bank. It has a great drop from 4 feet to 18 feet. Jackson and I have discussed how to catch the fish on that side but have never really been successful catching many. I first tried an XD3, but since it dives to only 8 feet I thought it might need to be upsized to an XD5. Caught one on the first cast. Hoping I had solved the mystery, I continued down the bank for almost a half mile with not another bite. It was a case of the “old Indian trick”. Since the water is so low you can see the brush people have put around their docks to attract fish. One dock had something I have never seen, grocery carts. There were probably 20 around the dock with more being lined up for when the water rose. In the brush around one dock  a bass came up and hit a shad. When I threw the clown colored super spook junior close by, it piled on. Seeing a little action was good for the soul because up until then not much fish activity was seen. It was time to go check on the first spot again. The fish were in it and active. A curly tail grub on a jig head did a good job on the schooling fish. When they became a little shy I threw the shaky head. There was one spot that a top was under the water and anything except a topwater would get hung. The water had a chop but they still would come up and get the spook at high noon. I used a Yozuri too because you can throw it so far and it fished fast so you can cover territory. When one spot slowed, I went to the other, and when that one slowed I went back. I ended up with 29 and a 3 – 6 FOD. There are so many Yozuri sized shad in the lake I wonder why the bass will bite a lure.

Hal caught this 7 – 0 today fishing with Richard in Beaverdam.

Mickey and I planned to go to Ferguson this afternoon after 5 p.m. but I arrived early, launched the boat, and went looking with the sidefinder. One of the things I discovered was this sunken barge.

If you click to enlarge the photo you can see the fish and the shadows they make. Continuing in the same area I located  an underwater point that I knew was somewhere in the area but not exactly where. When I take a screenshot it also marks a waypoint on the map.

Again you can see a few fish. When I turned around to make another pass I passed over the next place that was full of fish. Some of the larger ones were carp but there are many smaller ones of unknown species. The shad are plentiful too.

When I picked up Mickey we went to the 70 spot. We started far from the bank with the boat in 16 feet of water. A 5-XD was my weapon of choice and it struck quickly. Since we couldn’t catch any  others there we went to the Watzek bank and continued with the deep diver until a large gar relieved me of it. Starting on the way back we made a fortuitous stop where we caught 8 or 9 fish on worms fairly quickly. When that  spot was worn out we stopped at a similar one where Mickey caught the FOD, a 4 – 11.

When we could not get another bite there we headed to our last stop, the place I saw the so and so catch two fish yesterday. Instead of catching two, I got hung up two times, the first came free as I was getting out the “gitter” that I use to unhang baits that are hung up deep. The second required the “gitter” to get it free. Scared to make another cast we headed to the ramp. We caught 11 bass and all looked healthy except one. That one was not in terrible shape but was just not fat like the others.

This afternoon Willie and I went to Ferguson with the purpose of catching an ice chest full of striped bass. The word was out that they were out in force. We headed to the chute but after an hour or two we had only caught one. There were some that followed the bait right up to the boat but would not hit. We saw none hit on top like they usually do. A large mouth cooperated and a gar but no stripes. Usually things are the other way around. Willie was delighted with the gar and the one stripe made enough for a mess. The heat was so oppressive  we started home early. On the way, there were two places I wanted to try but there were boats on both. I stopped close to one to try another spot and watched the guy catch two small bass. He tried to be nonchalant and bring the fish over to the side of his boat that was away from us so we would not notice him catching a fish. Sneaky so and so!

It has been three years since I last fished in Wolf Lake. The last trip was in 2011 with perfect conditions. The fish did not get the memo however. On that trip there were baby gar everywhere and only a few bass. After a three year hiatus I thought the lake would have repaired itself. Unfortunately the only thing that happened was the gar have grown, perhaps fed by the addition by the State MDWFP of a good number of fingerling bass a year or so ago. I MAY have had two bites from bass this morning in the three hours I fished.  The only thing I caught was a heavy metal chair that had blown off of a dock into 9 feet of water. My DT-6 snagged the cushion that was attached. My lure retriever straightened the hooks but would not pull the lure loose. After the line snapped, as I was drifting the chains on the retriever became tangled in the expanded metal chair seat and allowed me to pull the chair to the top. I then used my knife to free the bait that was stuck in the cushion. The very next cast with a DT-10 I became hung on another immovable object. After the retriever freed the DT-10, I immediately fled for the landing with tail between my legs. I believe another hiatus is in order for Wolf Lake.

Jackson and I met at the ramp at 6:15 this morning which was about 30 minutes later than it should have been. When we launched we just started fishing. I had on the trusty Booyah spinner bait and Jackson had a super spook junior. He caught one on the second cast. A few casts later he had another strike but the fish missed. Finally after a couple more missed strikes I changed to a cripple killer but could not buy a strike even with it.  After we moved I did manage to change to a super spook junior and caught one quickly. They continued to bite the quiet topwaters although they missed a lot. The lake is being drawn down and is 2 feet lower than normal with 4 feet left to go. There is a current in the lake that we thought might make the cut between the North and South ends a good place. When we arrived there, we caught fish under the bridge immediately but they were white bass (stripes).  Only one black bass did we see there and that was when he jumped and threw my red eye shad.  We checked back with our spots on the shallow side only catching a couple more on shaky heads and red eye shad. Jackson and I have talked about giving an hour or two to just running the deep bank and using the side finder to find some spots with some larger fish. We did that today, looked that is. Some spots had some fish but nothing that seemed to be enough to stop and fish for. What we did see were shad, shad  and more shad. The bait in that lake is amazing. We then traveled down to Ditch Bayou where the water is being drawn out. Catching nothing there, we fished a few docks, caught a couple more and then hightailed it to the ramp. We ended up with 15 and a FOD of 3-1.

Since it rained all day yesterday, I knew the ride to the private hole on the 4 wheeler was going to be a muddy one. I packed up all my stuff and headed out. This is an old photo but it’s about what the Yamaha looked like.

When I shoved off and was rigging up I heard the sound around the corner of a bass striking in the shallows that made me put on a buzz bait to start. After a few casts one shot out of the flooded grass and pounced on it. I tried a few more times but it was obvious something else would be better. DT-6 came out next and caught a couple. Seeing some activity in some shallow water I put  a curly tail grub on a jig head. It was on a spinning rod so I could begin the retrieve quickly and keep the bait shallow. That worked a couple of times too. Here is a photo of the grub and jig.

Still thinking shallow out came the Yozuri. It was great because you can cast it a mile and you do not have to get too close to the fish in shallow water and scare them. When all that action subsided I pulled out a shaky head but on the back I put on a crawfish looking thing with claws that waved when it went through the water. Caught some on it too. Then I hit a lull and bites were nonexistent for about an hour or so.  I changed to a Strike King 5XD  crank bait and started catching a few again. With 12 pound line it goes down 15 feet because I got hung and had to get directly over the bait to get it free and the depth finder was reading 15 feet. After saving the bait, I had a small bass close to the boat that jumped and snapped my line. Not only was my line frayed but the drag was pretty much locked up. It was fine after I loosened it and then tightened it back down to the proper setting. I looked for the bait to come to the top all day but the fish was hooked too well. I caught 15 fish in all on 6 different baits.

This morning early I arrived at the banks of the L Hole. Not having fished in 3 weeks I wanted to go to a place unaffected by fishing pressure. There were no tracks on the bank to indicate any intrusion. I took a small 9 foot sneak boat and put a folding chair amidships.

When launching I noticed movement under a bush that I initially attributed to a gar. Upon closer inspection, I saw the motion was caused by two 18 inch alligators. My first reaction was “where is mom”? Not seeing the mother, I continued to launch the boat, but keeping “mom” in the back of my mind. After I set sail there was nothing going on. The Booyah had nothing working as did the shaky head. There was an hour without any sort of bite right at the best time of the morning. Finally a crankbait enticed one to bite and another succumbed to the shaky head. There were baby alligators in every place that would afford them the slightest amount of cover. The small (18 inches long) gators would come running to the slightest splashing on the surface. They made a squeaking noise as if to ask “where is something to eat”. They would hang close around the boat. If you splashed the rod tip in the water they would come and pose for the camera. If you grabbed one they would probably squeak to high Heaven and bring Mama charging from whichever hole she was in. She probably would be longer than my boat and that would have made me uncomfortable.

There is no way you could have fished a topwater. The fish that did bite did so so softly they were hard to hook. Finally, I saw a commotion next to the steep bank and threw the shaky head at it. Out came a bull of a bass that was the FOD of 4-15. When I lipped the fish to put it in the boat I noticed it was one of those with what seemed like extra teeth. Some bass have more teeth than others. I do not know why this happens but it does. This particular fish would not be still, whether in my hands or even on the scale. It roughed up my thumb pretty good. When I finally tamed it here is what it look like.

A picture of me and the fish . There was a smattering of rain and a lot of mosquitoes so I quit before 11 with 6 bass.

Mickey and I went to the Catfish Chute this morning early.  We fished until 1:00 and did not have much to show for it unless you count the gars. I’m going to have to find a recipe for gar balls it looks like.  The bass we caught were fat and healthy, it just was not enough of them. The fishing season  for me has turned into a mess. Going to have to turn it around.

Went to Lake Wilson in Portland Arkansas this morning early. It was my first time there. It falls straight down off the bank to 10 feet and from there on has a generally flat bottom. The water was clear with a two foot visibility. The lake is high and a lot of greenery is in the water. It was just right for a top water but there were no takers. I had heard that they could be caught on a big red worm so I tried one of those next. When that got no action I pulled out the trusty Booyah spinner bait. After about two hours and no bites one finally hit the spinner bait and went sideways. Due to my laziness of not retying the line, the line snapped. How disgusting ! To add insult to injury, while I was putting on a new bait, the fish jumped out in the open water trying to  throw the bait – – twice. The fish was not large just judging by the splash, maybe 3 pounds maximum. I picked up Sam at the landing at 10:30. We fished until about 1:30 not catching anything else, although Sam hooked a small one that escaped and had another to snap his line on the hookset. The sun came out and it began to get hot so we retreated to a short repair job to the boat trailer and  the air conditioning. The treat of the day was sighting a couple of bald eagles and a pair of black bellied whistling ducks.

I was at the private hole this morning at 5:30 because I knew there was cleaning to be done to the boat before there would be any fishing. The water has risen and was 2 or 3 inches deep in the back of the boat because I always leave the plug out so any rain will drain. I brought a broom to sweep up the leaves. After all that was done, I launched and was sitting preparing my equipment when I heard a strike around the point from where I was sitting.  A buzz bait immediately was put on and about the third cast after I rounded the point did the trick. Here is a photo.

The buzz worked so well I left it on and continued around the hole. The water being a few inches higher was back in the grass a little and there was a good crop of small bream trying to hide in it. The bass were working them over. The action was good until the sun got brighter but the fish even then were not far off of the bank. A DT-6 was just what they wanted. None of the fish were over 2 1/2 pounds but, not having been fishing in a while, I was glad to see each one of them. Getting your line stretched with regularity is fun. The water had even come up enough for me to be able to get in the South hole. It was difficult to fish due to the cottonwood cotton on the water. The game as the same there with the fish relating to the bank trying to eat the bream.  It began to be evident that the bite was beginning to slow. Things like bumps and when I did catch one it would be on only one rear hook. It was time to change tactics so out came a shaky head with a trick worm. The would bite but very lightly. I caught a few but it was slow fishing and bites became hard to come by. I quit at 11:45 with 23 bass.